Falling Star
by Bitter Baristas
Summary: After overhearing Dipper's and Ford's walkie-talkie conversation Mabel is ready to make a deal, but the consequences go beyond the terms of agreement. Warnings, attempted suicide. I do not own Gravity Falls.


_We'll make it work._

The words struck her in the heart and Mabel froze. She felt herself shatter, the pieces dropping to the floor, sharp and gleaming. Dipper… was abandoning her. He kept talking, but she was done listening. She ran faster than when fleeing the supernatural, legs pumping harder than she thought imaginable. Every sense in her body urged her to get away, just _get away_. Tears dripped from her cheeks to the floor as she fled the attic. Her twin was calling for her.

The world around her was a blur, but she didn't stop until her heart was hammering in her chest and her legs would carry her no farther. She collapsed against a thick tree trunk, gasping desperately for air.

 _Great opportunity for me._

She clutched her heart, as if to keep it from breaking. Dipper… was going to leave her. He'd rather chase monsters and study than be with her. A sob escaped her lips and her body shuddered. She was nothing to him.

Images of Grunkle Fork flashed through her mind and Mabel slammed her fist into the ground. This was all his fault.

All her pent up anxiety and sadness boiled over, turning to rage. Deep within the forest she let out a bloodcurdling shriek that shook the trees branches. She screamed and cried and clawed at the grass. When her voice was worn she fell limp. Her torrent of tears slowed to a trickle. She thought of Ford and Stan. Apart from each other for thirty years, thinking the other hated them. Each living different lives without their other half. Stan a con man, and his brother an esteemed scientific mind… and he wanted Dipper. To give Dipper what he dreamed of.

How could she deny him that?

She sighed, letting her eyes slid shut. Thoughts buzzed incessantly in her head.

She already knew the answer.

She couldn't.

Mabel stood. Dipper sacrificed so much for her happiness. It would be infinitely selfish of her to keep him from his dream.

"I just want a little more summer." She sighed wistfully.

If she should suffer for his happiness than suffer she would.

Mabel began to walk, looking around the darkening woods. Having ran without direction she wasn't sure where exactly she was, other than near a sharply dropping cliff that seemed vaguely familiar. She turned her head to the sky, watching the sun set lower on the horizon in a blaze of blushing pinks and vermilion. Her chest ached and she wished Stan was there, the old man always seemed to be able to brighten her spirits. He'd just done so earlier that day, his progress ruined by her stupid brother.

"I can help."

Mabel whirled around, coming face to face with Time Travel guy. "More summer, t-that's w-what you want, d-did I hear that right?"

Her foot slid back, eyes narrowing.

Something was… off. He continued talking, advancing.

"Why would you help me?" she asked abruptly.

The boy stammered.

"I told you, I want to make it up to you-"

"No." Mabel backed away from him, heart thumping harder as the sense of danger surrounded her. "You want to help yourself."

"Listen you little brat." The true voice bled out and a dapper triangle shed his vessel. Mabel screamed and took off running again, this time for the Mystery Shack. "You think you can escape me?" The yellow demon flew after her casually. "I could kill you-"

A root unearthed itself and caught Mabel's foot. She fell hard to the ground, pain jolting through her elbows and bare knees. She scrambled to her feet, scream cut off when a second branch wrapped around her throat, constricting. Gasping, the girl tried to wrestle herself free, watching in horror as Bill continued.

"-With a wave of my hand." He flicked his wrist.

The roots grip tightened and Mabel's struggles ceased. Bill's eye crinkled in delight. The root retracted and Mabel fell gracelessly to the ground, inhaling raggedly.

"I know how you feel kid, I really do." Bill offered her a hand. "To feel betrayed by someone you trust most. Bet you know how Pine Tree felt when you sided with the old man, huh?"

It was a cheap jab, one that struck Mabel at her core. She looked up with tear blurred eyes.

Bill Cipher summoned an alarm clock. "I can bend time, Shooting Star. And I'll do it for you."

The brown eyed girl shook her head. "No! Go away!" She pulled her knees to her chest and retreated into her sweater.

A hand gripped her chin and the demon forced her to look at him, his body a frightening crimson.

"Listen you little brat, that old man is going to die sometime. Don't you want to extend that time, extend your time in this two horse town?" His hold was bruising, his words bellowed.

She hesitated.

"Let me put this another way, you don't want his death sooner rather than later, do you?" The threat did the trick and Bill felt triumph swell inside him. He could feel the terror and desperation rolling off her in waves. He dropped her and held out his hand.

"Let's make a deal. I let your time here last forever and the old man lives." _For now._

Mabel eyed him suspiciously. "What do you want?"

Bill feigned offense. "What, I can't just want to help my favorite midget out?" Mabel's glare was answer enough.

"Alright, second favorite. I need a vessel, you agree to be my puppet for, say… twenty four hours, and I'll give you an endless summer."

His hand was waiting, like refuge in a storm. And it wasn't like he could enter the Mystery Shack anyway.

Mabel's trembling hand rose to take the demon's blue fire one.

An otherworldly force pushed her from her body.

Bill laughed maniacally in her body and began to rifle through her backpack.

"My backpack?" Mabel's spirit looked at the unsuspecting bag. "You wanted chocolate and glitter pens?"

Bill grinned like a wolf, lips stretching disturbingly over Mabel's braces. "Always was a sucker for glitter." He pulled the Rift from the back and held it high above his head. "Finally! It's mine. After all this time it's mine!"

"Mabel!" Dipper's voice rang out. Mabel rushed to her brother.

"That's not me!" she cried, unheard.

"Mabel what are you doing?"

Bill's back was turned to Dipper. Mabel's hand and swung down and the Rift shattered on the ground, breaking glass mingling with Dipper's screams.

The male twin dashed forward and yanked Mabel by her shoulders, hands recoiling like he'd touched a hot stove when he saw her yellow cat eyes. Bill laughed, grinning at the stunned boy as the sky ripped open.

Bill grinned. "Now to take care of the rest of your miserable family. This one wasn't part of the deal."

Bill took one step forward, fingers twitching to the boy's throat. Mabel's glitter soiled hands wrapped around her brother's neck, tightening with demonic strength. Bill forced Dipper to the ground and straddled him, choking the life from him.

"Stop!"

His borrowed body halted. Mabel gave a banshee shriek and slashed Bill with her phantom hands, fighting him for control, gaining her body for a moment.

"Dipper-run!" Her face was twisted in intense pain, one eye her own and one a feline yellow.

The boy clambered back. "Mabel…"

"Please! Please _run_!"

He turned and ran for the shack. "I'll get help!"

Bill cackled, swatting Mabel away. "When they come to save their precious Shooting Star, I'll kill them." Mabel protested weakly, mouth flapping open. Bill's dark tone lightened to demented joy. "Don't worry, I won't touch the one you call Stan. As per our agreement. Just lil' Pine Tree and IQ."

Again the body froze. "What, you don't want them to die?" Bill laughed. "Well too bad." He touched his chin thoughtfully. "Tell you what, you can have control back for now, but I'm your roommate for the next… twenty-three hours and thirty-six minutes."

In an instant Mabel was piloting her body again. The girl knew she wasn't as smart as Dipper, but she caught on to what the triangle was up to.

Distantly she heard trampling footsteps drawing closer, quickly closing in on her. She sucked in a quick breath and dashed toward the cliff. Bill kept her pace.

"What are you going to do? Hm?" he mocked. "Let me kill them, or kill yourself to bide their precious time?"

The answer was clear to Mabel.

Penance for her mistakes, her childish sins. She took a step forward.

"Bill!" Dipper was the one to shout to her first. Despite knowing it was a bad idea Mabel turned, unable to stop herself. Another mistake. "Stop, don't hurt her!" With him he had brought the two elderly Pine twins.

It would have been better to let them think it was Bill forcing her to do this.

Stan wore an expression of anger, but Mabel knew beneath the desire to punch and harm was fear. Ford's emotions were concealed by the sheen of his glasses. She imagined disappointment and disdain. When they looked into Mabel's teary, hazel eyes the trio sighed in relief.

She stepped back, guilt crushing her.

"S-stay back. Bill's not gone."

Dipper glanced between his twin and the precipice, realization dawning on him.

"Noooo! Mabel, don't. Please." His legs ran without his conscious command. Mabel moved away from him until she was pressed to the edge of the cliff.

"Dipper," her voice was soft. "I-I can't let him hurt you." She stepped back once more. "I'm sorry." Her foot met by empty air.

She fell back, hair whipping around her flushed cheeks, her hand reaching up to her twin who was reaching down helplessly for her. Time became as slow as the pour of molasses as Dipper cried out for her. Mabel looked past her anguished twin at a bemused triangle.

Her body collided with the ground. Mabel's senses were overwhelmed with agony. She dimly saw Stan and Ford use a grappling hook to safely descend the cliff she had fallen from. The next thing she knew Stan's face was inches from hers. His mouth was moving but no sound registered in her ears. Moaning, her eyes-her own brown and green eyes- danced in her skull, finding a Ford horrified looking for whose hand covered his mouth.

A gurgle slipped out of her mouth with a trickle of blood.

"I'm...sorry."

Stan hushed her gently, hands fluttering around her body unsurely.

"What do we do?" he snapped at Ford. "Will she be okay?"

Ford shook his head, freeing himself from his stupor. He began muttering to himself, planning. Mabel hissed as she tried to move, locking gazes with Ford.

"Take... take of him." She went limp. Ford's blood ran cold, knowing exactly what the dying girl was referring to.

Mabel's world turned to black, and when her eyes fluttered open she was in a wasteland. Bill hovered above her.

"I have to give you credit, Shooting Star, I didn't think you had it in you."

She sat up, finding her body pain free. "Am I dead?"

Bill laughed, high pitched and somehow metallic. "No, but you came close." He floated backwards. "But don't worry, I'll keep my end of the deal. Stanley Pines is safe from harm, for now." He burned red momentarily. "And with my plans in motion, none of you are getting out of this town." His body faded. "Enjoy your eternal summer, Shooting Star, my reign on this world won't end. Not ever."

Mabel's eyes snapped open, greeted by the labs ceiling. Her head fell to the side. Grunkle Stan was seated with his head dangling between his knees, silent sobs shaking his shoulders. Dipper sat an arms length away from Stan, a blank look on his face. He was unmoving, eyes a million miles away.

Mabel whimpered and the two jumped to their feet, clinging to her bedside.

She heard snippets of information.

"Okay-a special-pill."

"Bones healing already-"

"You should be dead."

The last voice was one more chilling and unfamiliar than the rest.

Ford glared down at the girl. "If I didn't have access to supernatural medical supplies you would have died." His face softened and he took her other side, a gloved hand smoothing her hair. "What were you thinking?"

Mabel was unable to answer, not that Ford had really expected her to. The scientist pressed a cool kiss to her forehead. "I'm sorry Mabel."

She fell into oblivion again, this time from the prick of a needle.

"I've induced her into a medical coma that with speed her healing process up significantly. She'll wake up tomorrow in a lot of pain, but she'll physically be fine."

Stan and Dipper didn't respond.

None of Pines men slept that night, despite the reassurance that their brilliant shooting star was still alive.

She had fallen, crashed and burned into the earth, and in different ways, they all blamed themselves for the near tragedy.

Stan held her clammy hand in his, Dipper leaning on him for support, the tears now falling silently down his face. Ford lingered, feeling unwelcome but unable to tear himself away from his niece.

One thing was clear to all of them. Bill would pay for this.


End file.
